New in 1.0.178
A Launchpad Alternative You Can Hit Blind
macOS 26 Tahoe removed Launchpad. You probably didn't use it to browse — you used it to open the same handful of apps. Notchy's launcher wheel does exactly that: press ⌃⌥L and your favourites fan out in a ring under the notch.
A ring, not a grid
Your pinned apps sit in a circle, starting at twelve o'clock and going clockwise, so each one has a direction your hand learns.
Keyboard or mouse
Arrows or Tab to move, Return to open, a number key to jump straight to a slot, Escape to close. Or just point and click.
Favourites or running apps
Flip the wheel between the apps you pinned in Notchy's Launcher tab and the apps that are already open.
Everywhere you are
It opens on the current Space, over full-screen apps, and gets out of the way the moment you pick or click elsewhere.
Everything Notchy does, for free
- Fluid Dynamic Island animations on the Mac notch
- Command palette (⌃⌥K) — every action one keystroke away
- Knock — double-tap a modifier key to open the notch
- AI usage tracker (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot)
- Detach any tab into a menu-bar popover
- Now Playing music controls (Apple Music & Spotify)
- Time-synced karaoke lyrics under the notch
- Mac clipboard history shelf (password-manager safe)
- Searchable clipboard — filter by text, file name, or OCR'd words
- On-device OCR — copy a screenshot, get its text (Apple Vision)
- Window snapping — drag a window to the notch to tile it
- App Launcher — pin apps to the notch, open with one tap
- Text snippets — TextExpander-style pastes from the ⌘K palette
- One-tap screen capture to clipboard + shelf
- Color eyedropper — sample any pixel, hex auto-copied
- System-wide mic mute for every meeting app at once
- Keystroke HUD for demos & screencasts (secure-input safe)
- Keyboard cleaning lock with countdown island (⌘⎋ unlocks)
- Menu-bar icon hiding — Bartender-style separator & chevron
- Live CPU / memory / network stats flyout
- Open GitHub PR count in the notch (Keychain-stored token)
- iPhone-style call island — Answer/Decline FaceTime on the notch
- Notch Terminal — real VT100/xterm shell in a PTY, its own tab
- Camera Guard — alert (or block) when any app opens your camera
- Caps Lock HUD — brief island on every toggle
- Full Charge island with adjustable threshold + low-battery sound
- Alt HUD styles — edge-pinned bar or circular gauge off the notch
- Audio-reactive Now Playing visualizer (real FFT of system audio)
- Custom closed-notch idle animation — drop in your own Lottie JSON
- Drag-and-drop file drop shelf — persists across relaunches
- Zip & unzip files right from the shelf
- Image converter (HEIC, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PDF) + video → GIF
- Run Apple Shortcuts with one tap
- Screenshots auto-staged on the shelf, ready to drag
- Download finished alerts with Reveal in Finder
- USB drive mount island with one-tap Eject
- Apple Reminders quick capture & due list
- macOS Pomodoro notch timer & stopwatch — streaks + 7-day chart
- Resizable expanded panel (width & height, live preview)
- System HUDs (volume, brightness, battery)
- Audio output switcher (speakers, AirPods, monitor)
- AirPods connection manager & battery
- Magic Mouse, Keyboard & Trackpad battery + low-battery alerts
- Quick notes & Calendar widgets
- Camera Mirror (check your appearance)
- Keep Awake (caffeine toggle)
- Teleprompter (Cuely) for Zoom calls
- Focus-aware alerts & native haptic feedback
- Lock screen widgets & hide-the-notch mode
- 133 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple Silicon
Launchpad on macOS Tahoe — FAQ
Did Apple remove Launchpad in macOS Tahoe?
Yes. macOS 26 Tahoe replaced Launchpad with a new Apps view, which is why so many Launchpad replacements appeared.
What's the shortcut for Notchy's launcher wheel?
⌃⌥L by default, and you can change it in Notchy's shortcut settings.
Does it show every app I have installed?
No — it shows your pinned favourites or your running apps. If you want a full-screen grid of everything, LaunchNext, LaunchOS or Launchie rebuild Launchpad itself.
Does it work on older macOS?
Yes. Notchy runs on macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel.
Is it free?
Yes — Notchy has no trial, licence key, subscription or in-app purchase.